Bill Silva Entertainment > About BSE

Bill Silva Entertainment (BSE) is a far cry from its apartment living room beginnings in 1979 where Bill Silva began his career promoting local concerts. Today, the fully-staffed organization includes Bill Silva Presents (BSP), a major concerts promotion and touring division; Bill Silva Management (BSM), an artist management division; and a 20-year relationship with the Hollywood Bowl to present concerts there.

Since 1979, Bill Silva Entertainment has produced over 10,000 events from small clubs to major stadiums all over the world. Shows produced have included such prodigious talents as Simon & Garfunkel, Santana, The Police, Madonna, Nirvana, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan.

Bill Silva founded Bill Silva Presents in 1979 while at school at the University of California, San Diego. BSP was so successful in San Diego that Bill then expanded his concert operations throughout the Southwest United States to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Texas, Idaho and Los Angeles.
When BSE moved to Los Angeles in 1999, Bill had become one of the top impresarios in North America, working with artists such as The Who, Devo, Pat Benatar, INXS, Diana Ross and Willie Nelson. Universal Studios' concert division bought BSE in 1999, which was later purchased by House of Blues Concerts. Bill Silva left that venture in 2003 and re-formed Bill Silva Presents as his own entrepreneurial company.

Bill Silva Management was formed in 1993 and offers a full house of specialized services to guide artists' careers. Their roster includes: GRAMMY Award-winning artist Jason Mraz; Atlantic Records recording artists Robert Francis and Christina Perri; acoustic folk trio Good Old War; eleveneleven recording artist Tom Andrews; the Grooveline Horns; and Portuguese percussion sextuplet be-dom.

In a highly competitive industry, artists benefit in all aspects of their career from BSM's decades of experience and relationships. Every artist has unique sets of needs and BSM supports these with in-house merchandising, brand licensing, publishing, and music licensing.

Erick manages the finances for all Bill Silva Entertainment ventures. In this capacity he strikes a deft balance in switching back and forth from concert settlement accounting to preparing revenue projections for client tours, or providing pro-formas on new business ventures. During concerts and performances you can often find Erick backstage crunching the numbers with the performer's tour accountant, while during the day you’ll likely find him surrounded by paper in his office or interfacing with the management staff discussing the financial implications of a client’s next great venture.

Prior to joining the Bill Silva companies, Erick worked in media for advertising agency McCann-Erickson and most recently in business management for Provident Financial Management. Erick has obtained a B.A. in Communications from the University of Alabama, an Accounting Certificate from Golden Gate University, and an M. B. A. from the University of Rhode Island.

Eric joined Bill Silva Presents in 2005 after spending six years as one the main concert promoters at Avalon Attractions (a division of Live Nation). Prior to joining Avalon Attractions, he worked at Metropolitan Entertainment in New York City from 1995 to 1999. Eric also worked in New York City at talent agencies International Talent Group and Entourage Talent Group from 1991-1994.

Ryan Chisholm joined Bill Silva Entertainment in 2006 as an intern, assisting all sides of the company (management, concert promotion, touring) while finishing up his undergraduate degree at UCLA. As the newest tech-savvy addition to the team, Ryan oversaw the New Media division for all management clients and Bill Silva Presents shows.

Ryan grew up with a passion for artist management, shadowing his father Kevin Chisholm, who worked as Santana’s Manager/Tour Director for over 20 years. In 2010, Ryan and Tom Gates signed indie/folk trio Good Old War and singer/songwriter Christina Perri. Under their guidance, Perri’s song “Jar of Hearts” was featured on Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance, thrusting her into the iTunes Top 15 chart and launching her career. The song has since sold over 2 million copies and led to the recording of her Atlantic Records debut album “lovestrong.” (in stores May 10th).

In 2010 Ryan also launched a music industry mixer called “Meeting of the Minds” that brings together some of the brightest and most talented young leaders in the music space. The event has successfully grown to be one of the leading mixers in Los Angeles.

Tom began his career a severe metal-head, spending his first four years in New York as the Metal Dude for Roadrunner Records. One important haircut later, he began working at Arista Records as the Director of Alternative, AAA and Rock Promotion. Over the next four years he would work with such artists as Patti Smith, Santana, Dido, Spiritualized, Annie Lennox, Faithless and many more that have escaped his memory. While consistently in awe of the perfect hit machine that Arista had become, he realized that preparing for board room meetings and discussing Ace Of Base singles was not his “thing”.

He left to join Nettwerk in 2000, where he would spend four years promoting Nettwerk’s management and label clients, including Coldplay, Avril Lavigne, Sum 41, Sarah McLachlan and Barenaked Ladies. In 2004 he began managing a Long Island band called Brand New, who would spend the next six years developing a wildly original career, largely based on peer-to-peer networking and a dastardly tour schedule. He has also worked with The Format, Jay Brannan, Anathallo and MC Lars.

Gates joined BSE in January of 2010 and is also pretending to be a third person right now, obviously writing his own bio. He knows that you knew that, despite the deft maneuvering of pronouns.

Patrick started his music career in the marketing department at Arista Records in New York. It was there that he first heard songs written and sung by an unknown artist named Dido. He became very passionate about Dido and would later go on to join Nettwerk Management in Los Angeles to co-manage her and others for seven years. While at Nettwerk Management, Patrick was also involved in the management of other US and European artists such as Poe, Groove Armada, Kristian Leontiou and Robert Post.

In 2008, Pocklington joined long-time friend Bill Silva in the management side of his company. At BSM, he co-manages Jason Mraz and oversees Mraz activities which include the administration of his publishing company, Goo Eyed Music, as well as Jason Mraz Foundation. Patrick also co-manages Tom Andrews whom is signed to Ellen DeGeneres' music label 1111/Interscope.

A longtime friend and supporter of management client Jason Mraz, Philly spent her high school and college years overseeing Mraz's online fan community before officially joining the Bill Silva Management team in July 2009. Philly oversees online initiatives and fan outreach for Jason Mraz, Christina Perri, Good Old War, Robert Francis, and Tom Andrews, in addition to digital marketing and promotions for Andrew Hewitt & Bill Silva Presents.

Born and raised in England before moving to California at the awkward age of 13, Philly has an affinity for tea and a fondness for the letter 'u' in words like 'colour' and 'honour.' She is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego, where she studied Writing and Critical Gender Studies, and appreciates quick wit, optimism, and a thoughtfully-crafted mix CD.

On Twitter: @shewhodaydreams

Vince Schultz first came to the attention of Bill Silva in 1998 while working as the tour manager for former BSM clients Unwritten Law. After a foray into acting (he still has his SAG card), he joined the Bill Silva Entertainment team in 2008.

Today Vince heads up our Publishing department, overseeing song placement and clearing syncs and licenses for our BSM artist roster, No BS Publishing, and BS Management Music clients. He also assists Patrick Pocklington with the day-to-day management of Jason Mraz. When he's not at the office, Vince enjoys spending time with friends and family, watching football, attending shows, and dining at Cafe Gratitude.

Josh came to Bill Silva Management from New York City where he studied contemporary art and worked for several years as the associate director of the Charles Cowles Gallery in Chelsea. Josh would spend his days staring at paintings and photographs, praying for some NOISE; the concert industry was where he later found that noise. Josh found a mentor in Bill Silva and decided to make the move from NY to LA in January of 2007 to work as Bill’s executive assistant. He now resides in the management department working on day-to-day for all of BSM’s clients.

Josh spends his free time watching horror movies, doing yoga, playing with his dogs, and fixing his hair.

Drake began his career while in high school, interning at Fourth Street Studios in Santa Monica, before heading to the friendly cities of Seattle/Tacoma to pursue a conventional education and play soccer for the University of Puget Sound.

After getting too many concussions, Drake began his foray from soccer into the magical world college radio at KUPS by co-hosting a hip hop radio show with Travis Rahe Dog. Shortly thereafter, KUPS was awarded MTV's 2009 Woodie award for Best College Radio Station, which kicked off a celebration that still hasn't quite settled down yet. While dropping and rocking the beats in the beautiful northwest, Drake simultaneously interned at Ledbetter Entertainment, a music publishing company run by Wayne Ledbetter.

Drake spends most of his time in the management side of BSE but enjoys having his hand in everything.

Forever passionate about live music, there’s not much Shell hasn’t done in the concert world. Starting out with an initial goal to be a sound engineer, her early career segued from the Recording Arts and Music Business program at Golden West College into music publicity. Missing the excitement of the live events, in 1993 she settled into the concert industry, beginning at the William Morris Agency as an Agent Trainee followed by a move to Houston where she worked as a Festival Talent Buyer for PACE Concerts (now part of Live Nation). In 2001 she moved back to her hometown of Los Angeles and worked as Tour Coordinator and Sponsorship Manager in the Touring Division at House of Blues, and from there she took on the challenge of Associate Producer for the online music shows AOL Music Live and AOL Music Sessions.

Shell came on board in January 2010 working in the Accounting Department, helping Erick Nordan keep the bills paid, the books balanced and thanking her lucky stars that she’s back in the environment that feels like home.